Last month, the parent company of KQED and KQED-FM - the San Francisco public broadcasting outlets that are among the nation's most popular - laid off 30 employees and cut 13 percent of its budget. Jeff Clarke, president and CEO of Northern California Public Broadcasting, announced that in an effort to spread the pain, senior management was voluntarily reducing its compensation by about 13 percent and freezing executive salaries through 2010.

But privately, as their colleagues were shown the door, some station employees grumbled about Clarke's $361,000 base salary - which approaches $400,000 with performance-based incentives. It is more than what top execs receive at public broadcasting outlets with higher revenues in New York and Boston, but less than what contemporaries earn in Los Angeles and Philadelphia (stations that NCPB's board uses to set executive salary parameters).

At a time when CEO salaries are under intense scrutiny, Northern California's dominant public broadcaster finds itself answering some of the same questions as its for-profit brethren.

"It's hard, in this economy, when you're asking someone to give $40 or $125 or whatever in membership fees when they see what the executive is making," said Sandra Miniutti, vice president of marketing for Charity Navigator, an online watchdog that evaluates 5,000 of the nation's top nonprofits.

And as for Clarke's salary? "It's definitely on the higher side," Miniutti said, referring to her organization's salary yardsticks.

Finding a way to gauge what is a fair executive salary can be more challenging for a nonprofit. Organizations in the same sector are often configured differently, with different market pressures and funding sources.

Regular pledge drives

Even in the best of economic times, Northern California Public Broadcasting is never flush. While its programming competes against commercial TV and radio outlets that are part of for-profit corporations with deep pockets, the public broadcaster is regularly forced to pass the hat to viewers through pledge drives. It is a nonprofit, but a complex one with $63 million in annual revenue - requiring a highly qualified staff with salaries that can meet the cost of living in the Bay Area.

And there's the near-annual worry that federal legislators will cut the amount that NCPB gets - which is slated to be $4.8 million this year.

The head of the body that sets Clarke's salary - the NCPB board - is happy with the man who has spent 25 years in public broadcasting and 38 years total in the business.

"I'm very comfortable with what he's making," said Noelle Leca, president of the NCPB board. "My own perspective is that Jeff has been extraordinarily successful in his role. I think people lose sight of the fact that when we hired him (in 2002), KQED had one radio and one television station and an annual budget just shy of $30 million. We now have two radio stations, three television stations and an annual budget north of $60 million. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find somebody else in public broadcasting who's had the extraordinary run that he's had in the time that he's been here.

"Our biggest challenge is nervously looking at what folks in the commercial sector earn. Jeff has been extraordinarily successful, and my concern is that he could walk out to our brother next door," Leca said.

The average CEO compensation for the 81 public broadcasting outlets that CharityNavigator.com tracks is $175,822. However, the average total revenue for that group is $17,887,186 - far less than Northern California Public Broadcasting - and includes everything from outlets in small markets to those in New York. Because of the wide difference in size among these organizations, NCPB officials say comparing them is unfair.

Akin to ballet, symphony

Clarke said a more realistic yardstick would be to compare his compensation to that of the leaders of other leading Bay Area arts nonprofits such as the San Francisco Ballet (whose top exec earns $277,341 from the organization's $53 million budget) or the San Francisco Symphony ($377,805 on $84 million in revenue; $65 million operating budget).

"When some people hear the term 'nonprofit,' they think of Mother Teresa. That's often not the case," said Bob Ottenhoff, president and CEO of Guidestar, which operates a large database of financial information on nonprofit organizations and foundations.

Like other public broadcasters across the country, Northern California Public Broadcasting has been hit hard by the recession. Major donations have dropped 15 percent and corporate underwriting has dropped 24 percent since October, but its membership level has remained relatively stable.

Some, like union President Wilson, wondered why Clarke's salary is so much higher than his predecessor's. A decade ago, Mary Bitterman earned $193,808 as KQED's president and CEO. In the fiscal year that ended in September 2007, Clarke earned $399,712 with incentives holding that same job title. Wilson said the average union employee received less than a 2 percent raise between 2003 and 2007.

Board President Leca said that not only is KQED a much larger operation than it was then, the board felt during its search for Bitterman's successor that the position was underpaid.

Clarke, 61, said he is honored to hold his job and believes his record is strong.

"Are there always going to be some folks who may not be satisfied with my compensation or others'?" Clarke asked rhetorically. "That's just part of being in a leadership role and something that is not new in the 20 years that I have been an executive in this industry and probably won't change going forward."